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Confidence men : Wall Street, Washington, and the education of a president

Draws on hundreds of hours of interviews and in-depth research to relate the complete story of the nation's financial meltdown, from the trading floors of lower Manhattan to the power corridors inside the Beltway.

pt. 1. The two capitals --
September 17, 2010 --
The warning --
Sonny's blues --
Inside the bubble --
The fall --
The rise --
The B-Team --
pt. 2. Home alone --
A new deal --
Well managed --
The covenant --
Unresolved--
Nowhere man --
Filling the void --
Mad men --
pt. 3. The education of Barack Obama --
Lost and found --
Mind the gap --
Business as usual --
God's work --
The noise --
The man they elected.

Responsibility:

Ron Suskind.

Abstract:

Draws on hundreds of hours of interviews and in-depth research to relate the complete story of the nation's financial meltdown, from the trading floors of lower Manhattan to the power corridors inside the Beltway.

Suskind provides drama to economic tangles

Ron Suskind has a knack for turning obscure history into compelling narratives, and he doesn't disappoint here. He fills in the cast of characters like a novelist wielding his creative toolbox--Obama's economic advisers, the Fed, the politicians making up the legislative milieu. We learn quite...Read more...

Ron Suskind has a knack for turning obscure history into compelling narratives, and he doesn't disappoint here. He fills in the cast of characters like a novelist wielding his creative toolbox--Obama's economic advisers, the Fed, the politicians making up the legislative milieu. We learn quite a lot about Obama's personality, his methods of managing meetings, and his managerial style. It is the latter the comes up severely lacking in Suskind's account. Always engaging, intelligent, concerned, and optimistic, Obama apparently is just a horrible manager.

The greatest weakness of this account is Suskind's tendency to pick his favorites: his heroes and his villains. Larry Summers is clearly the bad guy here, Tim Geithner bringing up a close second. Meanwhile, Suskind relies too much on the point of view of his more favored informants--those who seemingly were resisting the tide, though with what degree of effort we can't really be sure. We only have their word. Of course, any journalist has to believe some of his or her sources. I just wish Suskind had taken the accounts of the "good guys" with a few more grains of salt.

"Draws on hundreds of hours of interviews and in-depth research to relate the complete story of the nation's financial meltdown, from the trading floors of lower Manhattan to the power corridors inside the Beltway."@en